Euronews

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged the world’s top economies to agree new rules to curb market volatility or risk unrest instead.

Spelling out France’s goals for its G20 presidency, Sarkozy said the measures to reform commodity markets were needed to avoid the increasing unpredictability of food prices.

‘‘If we don’t do anything, we risk having food riots in the poorest countries and also a very unfavourable impact on world growth,’‘ Sarkozy argued.

Sarkozy also once again called for a tax on financial transactions, arguing it was the best way to fund international development goals at a time when many countries had large deficits.

‘‘France considers that this tax is moral, given the financial crisis that we’ve gone through. This tax is useful to dissuade speculation, and this tax is efficient to find new resources for development,’‘ the French President urged.

Keen to bolster his flagging support at home, the French president has set out an ambitious agenda for this year’s presidency.

Paris blames financial speculation, in part, for soaring commodity prices and it has made that, along with reforming the international monetary system, key priorities.